It’s time to call Carlos Martinez the ace of the Cardinals staff

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez enjoys a ride in a pickup truck around the Busch Stadium track during player introductions on Opening Day before a game against the Milwaukee Brewers in St. Louis on April 11, 2016. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

In his last 35 starts, dating back to the start of last season, Carlos Martinez is an impressive 22-12. A late season injury derailed not only his season, but in all likelihood, the Cardinals chance of getting past the first round of the playoffs.

Carlos is healthy and sharp as ever. He improved to 4-0, pitching eight shutout innings in an 8-2 win over Shelby Miller and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Carlos was never in really any danger the whole night and Mike Matheny said he approached this game differently than others showing he’s more than just a power pitcher.

“This one (he) was making off-speed pitches whenever he wanted to and then all of a sudden he waits until almost pitch 100 to show 98 (mph). He was locating when he needed to and made tough pitches in tough counts.”

This is the second time in his career that he’s pitched shutout ball over eight innings. The other time he did it came last year, against guess who? Shelby Miller and the Braves on July 25th.

After another solid April, this is slowly becoming Carlos’ staff. His ERA dipped to 1.93 and the offense continues to rally and support him. He’s the only pitcher to beat the Cubs and the bats have churned out runs of 12, 14 and now 8 in his starts.

As a starter in April over the last two seasons, he’s now 7-0 and the team has won all eight of his starts.